Feeling of Safety
by Irihi B.W
Summary: /pre-MMZ2/ Zero succeeded in destroying Copy X, and the Guardians attack the Resistance in revenge. Seperated from the others in the chaos, Ciel is left alone and defenseless. It's only thanks to a certain "TK-31" she survives at all.  Elpizo/Ciel


Ciel tried to keep her sobs as quiet as possible as she stumbled through the swamp, gasping as her heeled boots caught every root imaginable or low-hanging branches whacked across her helmet. Shimmering strands of blond hair were left behind on the thorns, but she had quit trying to collect them after the first two hundred and five and tried to focus on finding the Resistance.

Or at least, what remained of them.

The human girl wanted to cover her mouth, but her gloves were covered in a thick film of muck, and the last thing she wanted was some sort of respiratory infection. She kept her hands clasped and tucked to her chest, her head low as she tried to navigate the swamp. She had been here once, to find that secret laboratory that harbored her last hope... but she had passed that laboratory at least four hours ago, and that last hope was gone with the head of the threat.

Ciel let out a ragged breath instead of a sob, a little proud of herself for the effort. The Resistance had come under much heavier attack following the destruction of a part of Neo Arcadia's central tower, and Ciel could only assume Zero had succeeded. The Guardians—only three, she had noticed—were in a complete rage and, with their forces, overran the Resistance's feeble base. All they could do was run.

Ciel had thrown Alouette into the transerver moments before a Neo Arcadian destroyed it. She had, by pure luck, disabled the droid with a lucky shot of a pistol. A shame that pistol only had one bullet, she certainly wished she had it now. The few Resistance left had long been killed, all for her sake, just so she could escape through the underground tunnel and wiggle her way through the laboratory.

And now here she was, alone and unarmed, and most definately lost.

Plops of filth hitting the shallow water made Ciel feel her heart pound in her ribcage, the sounds too close to footsteps. She wished her genetic alterations included more than just being intellectually smart—that didn't help her survive in the wild.

A louder splash made Ciel forget her adversion to infection as she clapped her hands over mouth and freeze. That wasn't dying flora hitting the water, that was definately a step.

Another splash sent Ciel's fear into overdrive, as well as her body. Immediately she picked a random direction and took off as fast as her feeble body could carry her, hoping to find some sort of shelter before whoever following her caught up.

But Ciel was at a disadvantage—she was human, and whatever was now coming after her was obviously not. She might not have been the most fit of humans, but Ciel was a good runner, and that enemy was a helluva lot faster than she.

Ciel desperately grabbed onto a low hanging branch, heaving herself up and nearly losing her grip due to the slime on both the branch and her gloves. She gripped it harder, letting her fear drive her to scramble up the tree as high as possible. A rip signified her dress was that much more ruined, but she paused long enough to snag the ribbon of pink before it fell and betrayed her. She stuffed the scrap into her mouth, despite the foul taste, and continued to climb. By the time she felt even remotely safe, she was on the highest branch capable of holding her weight, her mouth clenching down on six strips of dirty pink cloth and two chunks of blue undersuit. She was covered in muck, felt disgusting and as if she were going to fall out of the tree.

Looking down, Ciel saw the pass of search lights between the holes of sloughing muck and tree branches. A few lights swept upwards at her, and she held her breath each time, but the tree provided decent coverage as the lights had moved on. Either she was far up enough or they weren't carrying scanners.

_Or they were Resistance and you just lost your chance like an idiot._

Ciel shook her head, finally taking the gross fabrics out of her mouth. If it were friends, they'd call her name, surely.

Ciel looked down at the ruins of her dress, and with slow and careful movements, tore the rest of it off. Survival didn't allow for much modesty, and her undersuit would have to do for now. Not like the dress offered much in protection anyway.

With the remains of the dress she wiped off as much slippery muck from her branch as possible. She needed to rest, and she knew she'd probably fall asleep, best to get rid of the stuff before it made her fall.

When she was somewhat satisfied, she made as decent of a rope as she could out of the remains and laid down on her stomach, arms and legs dangling. She tied the dress around her wrists and hoped she'd wake up before falling to her death, if that were the case.

Intelligence in robotics didn't help with survival. Ciel closed her eyes and hoped she was doing this 'survive in the wild' thing right.

* * *

><p>Ciel woke up to daylight and the sounds of voices under her tree. The panick made any sensation of sleepiness flee, and she nearly fell off the branch as she scrambled to untie the wet rope. She was forced to slid it off her wrists, but failed to catch it; blue eyes wide in fright, Ciel watched in dismay as the knotted and soaked fabric tumbled down the tree and stuck to a lower branch with the loudest plop she ever heard.<p>

She also heard exclaimations over it, and scooting along her branch, Ciel peered down through the holes of the foliage. She could see her rope hanging there.

An arm came into view, covered in what looked to be a... pink coat?

_And here I thought I was the only crazy one. _Ciel wanted to laugh at her jittery thoughts.

She could hear the words, but she heard the commanding voice echo through. A chorus answered, and Ciel gripped her branch at the foliage that protected her from sight was torn down.

What was revealed were not Neo Arcadians, at least, not ones that would normally be after her. Ciel couldn't see their exact faces, but she didn't see any droids or army-issued Reploids... they were all in mix-matched outfits of military and civilian wear, with the leader wearing the pink coat and a golden helmet, topped with a pink hat.

Ciel wasn't sure if this was good or not, but she obviously was found.

"...eeeey!" a voice echoed up to her. "Hu...!"

The leader motioned to a female Reploid, who made an obvious show of giving her weapon to him. The female waved at her, but apprehension kept Ciel still, especially once the female began to climb the tree.

_What do I do? _Ciel felt tears build up in her eyes, pulling even more fluid out of her dehydrated body. She couldn't jump down, she'd definately kill herself...

Maybe she could escape once she was down? It was the only option left, especially once the female proved she was quite versed in climbing nasty, slimy trees.

When the Reploid was on the branch just under hers, she paused, looking up at Ciel. The human stared back, unable to stop the tears flowing down her face. Even if she were a civilian, Ciel knew that Reploid could wrestle her into submission in seconds.

"It's all right," the female Reploid said to her, calmly. "We're gonna get you down, okay? I just need you to relax and don't panic; I'm coming up. You can watch me, see?"

The female made sure she remained well within sight as she manuvered up the tree to Ciel's branch. Ciel did scoot further away from the trunk to allow the female to have room and looked at her over her shoulder.

The female straddled the branch and held out her arms, giving Ciel a smile. "It's okay," she repeated. "I'm KC-84. I won't hurt you."

Ciel opened her mouth to speak, but it was as dry as cotton. "Kay... Cee...?"

KC-84 nodded. "Generic model, no human name assigned. I'm harmless, see? You can trust me, I can get you down."

Generic models were made, basically, as fodder. It hurt Ciel's heart to realize, if this woman was in Neo Arcadia, she would have been disposed of eighty-four days after her activation, unless she had proven to be useful. The plain face, too perfect to be considered human, still shone with a kindness Ciel had missed seeing in non-Resistance Reploids.

Ciel nodded slowly, scooting back until she felt herself bump into the Reploid. KC-84 wrapped her arms around Ciel securely.

"I'm going to jump down," KC-84 said, and Ciel tensed. "It's okay, our leader has an inflatable set up to catch us. Just lift your arms and put them around my head." Ciel did as she was told, and KC-84's head rested on her shoulder. "Good. Take a deep breath."

Ciel did, and suddenly she was falling. Her mouth and throat were too dry to scream, and before she knew it, she and KC-84 hit something sort of soft. They sunk down low and Ciel cracked her head on the ground underneath, but her helmet absorbed most of the impact.

Once KC-84 let her go, Ciel scrambled to her feet and tried to get free of the slowly deflating landing pad. KC-84 called for her, but Ciel avoided her grasp and tried to get through the other Reploids.

A hand caught her by the wrist before Ciel could be fully free of the landing pad, and she was pulled out. She thumped against an obviously armored body, and she looked up to see the leader had gotten a hold of her.

Ciel shivered, and the Reploid smiled at her. One arm around her, the other hand undid his coat buttons; once they were all undone, he shrugged the garment off and draped it around Ciel. The bottom was heavy from absorbing the moisture of the swamp, but Ciel clutched it around her, now realizing she was nearly naked before them. She started to shake uncontrollably.

She looked up fearfully to the leader, who opened a pouch hanging from a utility belt of his armor. He popped open a canteen and held it to her lips.

Ciel could practically smell the fresh water and she grabbed the canteen, draining the two mouthfuls in it before she knew what she was doing.

"We've been looking for you," the leader said, and Ciel froze in the action of returning the container. "If you're who I think you are, and I'm fairly sure you are, some friends of yours have been tearing themselves apart trying to find you."

Ciel swallowed, a little revitalized from the drink. "Who you?" she winced at her terrible speaking.

The leader's smile grew, the one eye not covered by his helmet friendly and at ease. "TK-31, but I gave myself a humanized name. You can call me 'Elpizo.'"

Ciel stared at him, the friendly smile and eye. "C-Ciel." she whispered, trying to calm her shivering.

"Well then, Miss Ciel, we should get you back to your Resistance." Elpizo slowly raised his arms, and Ciel tensed. "Come, I will carry you, you look ready to fall over."

"No, I'm..." Ciel coughed.

"Nonesense." Elpizo quickly, but carefully, swept Ciel up off the ground. She only managed a gasped protest. "I am capable of carrying you, Miss Ciel. As a Reploid, it is my duty to protect and care for humans. Allow me to carry out this duty and provide for you."

Ciel didn't really have the energy to argue, so she nodded, resting her head on Elpizo's shoulder. He gave some orders to the Reploids accompanying him, and when he started to move, Ciel pulled the coat as tightly around her as she could.

She wanted to ask about Neo Arcadia, about Zero, about her friends. But the fear, excitment, and lack of nutrition made her completely limp in Elpizo's arms. But it was the feeling of safety he enveloped her in that made Ciel fall asleep.


End file.
